


The Mists of Time

by Quipxotic



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Audio 149: Robophobia, Audio: Dark Eyes (Doctor Who), Companion Swap, Gen, Post-Audio 01.04: The Satanic Mill, Post-Audio 141: Lurkers at Sunlight's Edge, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 23:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11300763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quipxotic/pseuds/Quipxotic
Summary: Ace and Hex wind up on the Eighth Doctor’s TARDIS under mysterious circumstances. But where are Liv and Helen?





	1. The Nurse and the Warrior

A mist filled his vision. When it cleared, Hex found himself standing in an unfamiliar room. 

“What just happened?” he asked, turning to Ace.

“I don’t know, but we’re still in the TARDIS.” She nodded toward the time rotor in the middle of the room. “Evidently someone's been mucking about with console room settings again.” She cupped her hands and yelled. “Professor? Where are you?”

“Oh yeah.” Now Hex recognized it. “Very Gothic, like back when we-“ 

“Yeah, don’t remind me.” She looked around. “Professor? What are you playing at this time? Some sort of test? Wasn’t it enough to change the outside of the TARDIS without making the insides look like a bookworm’s wet dream?”

“Nothing wrong with loving books,” a voice said behind them. They spun and watched as a middle-aged man with short, slightly curly brown hair ambled into the room. His black leather jacket was well-worn and a brown strip of leather crossed over his left shoulder, across his chest, and down to a satchel at his hip. “Although as I recall, you were always more interested in big guns and Nitro-9.” The man grinned at them. “Hello Ace. And Mr. Hex! It has been a while.”

“Who the hell are you?” 

Ace moved to stand beside Hex, her fists balled in anger. “Yeah, and what have you done with the Professor?” 

“Nothing. I am him…the Doctor I mean. I’m just a later version than your Doctor, or rather the version of me you knew.”

Hex wrinkled his nose in confusion. “Come again?”

The Eighth Doctor shrugged. “Regeneration. It’s a Time Lord thing.” He leaned back into the corridor. “Liv! Helen! Come to the control room, there’s some people I want you to meet.” Without waiting for a response, he hurried past Ace and Hex. “I wonder how the two of you got here? Not that it isn’t lovely to see you both again, especially given everything that happened, but you really aren’t supposed to be here.”

“Wait, what? Regeneration?” Hex asked, still not following.

“He’s saying he’s a future version of the Professor,” Ace grumbled, eyes still narrowed with suspicion. “When Time Lords die they don’t just end, they change into a new person. Regenerate.”

“What, really? Like lizards regrowing a tail?”

“No,” the Doctor snorted, “not at all like that.” He fiddled with the console’s setting, reviewing the sensor readings for the last few minutes. “There’s no sign of any malfunctions here. Very strange.” He frowned and called again. “Liv! Helen! Where could they have gotten to? As much noise as we’ve made they should both have come running by now.”

“So you’re another version of the Doctor.”

The Doctor sighed, eyes still on the console. “Yes, Hex.”

“And this Liv and Helen travel around with you like Ace and I do. Did? Whatever?”

“Yes.”

“So if we’re here, maybe they’re there…with our Doctor?”

The Doctor froze for a second, his eyes wide. “Oh no.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if this will be a full-blown story or just a series of ficlets. I guess we'll all find out together...as usual.


	2. The MedTech and the Language Scholar

“You!”

“Me,” the Seventh Doctor agreed. “And who are you?”

Liv looked at him even more accusingly than she had the moment she’d found herself standing in his TARDIS. “What are you talking about? You know who I am.”

“I take it we’ve met then?”

“Of course! Don’t you remember? _The Lorelei_ , the deaths of the crew, all the robots that weren’t killing people? Ventalis?”

“Interesting.” He leaned on his umbrella, deep in thought.

“Interesting? That’s all you have to say? When are we, Doctor? How did we get here?”

“Doctor?” Helen had been standing behind her friend, trying to get her bearings. At this, she walked around the console to get a better look at the person in question. “Liv, he’s not the Doctor.”

“Yes, he is. This is how the Doctor looked when I first met him.”

“How is that even possible?”

“He…changes. When he gets injured or close to death-”

“It’s called regeneration,” the Doctor said. “It’s a Time Lord thing.”

“I still don’t understand-“

Liv waved her hand impatiently. “It doesn’t matter. How are we here, now? I mean, I take it this is the TARDIS?”

“It doesn’t look anything like our TARDIS.” Helen wrinkled her nose at the white walls and roundels. “It’s so…modern.”

“No it isn’t!” The Doctor interjected indignantly. “It’s classic.”

“Doctor!” Liv sighed in exasperation. “I’d forgotten that you were even worse at explaining things in this version than you are in ours.”

“The truth is Ms.-” He paused and looked expectantly at Liv.

“Chenka. And it’s MedTech, not Ms.” 

“Well Liv Chenka, MedTech, the honest truth is that I don’t know how you and Miss-“

“Helen Sinclair.”

“Delighted. But I have no idea how you came to be here, nor do I have any memory of either of you. My best guess is that we will meet…but we haven’t yet.”

“So,” Liv frowned, “ _The Lorelei_ and everything that happened there is in your future?”

“It would seem so.”

She cringed. “And I just told you all about it. Shouldn’t you be upset? I mean, isn’t foreknowledge against your Time Lord rules?”

He shrugged. “Shouldn’t be a problem, as long as I make sure what did happen, does happen.”

“I see,” Liv said, although she was still skeptical. “That makes a change. Last time I tried to tell you about something in your personal future you refused to hear it. Threats to the Web of Time, and all that-“

“No point crying over spilt milk, that’s what I always say. And right now I’m far more concerned about our current situation than with the Web of Time.” The Doctor studied them both. “What do you remember?”

“Ummm well,” Helen looked at Liv for support, “there was this mist. A blueish mist-“

“Where did it come from?”

Liv shook her head. “No where. It just seemed to appear in the console room.”

“Did your Doctor have any ideas about what was causing it?”

“We didn’t have time to find out,” Liv replied. “The mist seemed to cover everything and seconds later we were standing here.”

“I see.” The Doctor tapped the console in a quick rhythm. “If you’re here, I suppose it’s reasonable to hope that Ace and Hex are with your Doctor in his TARDIS?”

“Your companions?”

“Indeed.” The Doctor was silent a few moments and then he nodded emphatically. “Well if you’re going to be here a while, you should settle in. Care for a cup of tea?”

Helen was horrified. “Tea?” 

“Yes, tea. It always helps me think.” With his umbrella he pointed toward the door leading to the interior of the ship. “Second right, third left, and down the stairs. You should find all you need for a good English tea.”

“We’re not going to go make tea while you figure things out!“

“Helen.” Liv grabbed her arm. “Come on, I want to have a look around. And,” she leaned in to whisper in Helen’s ear, “a chance to talk a bit, out of earshot.” Louder she said, “You’ll wait for us to get back before you do anything, won’t you Doctor?”

“Hmmm? Oh, yes, yes…of course.”

“Right,” Liv scoffed, “that’ll be a first if it happens.” Then arm and arm she and Helen left the console room.

“You know me so well, apparently,” the Doctor mumbled absentmindedly. He flipped some switches to start a diagnostic program running. “So Old Girl, who tried to attack you this time?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Helen learns about regeneration for the first time in _Doom Coalition 3_ , but I assume there's some timey-wimey reason why she forgets about it. Work with me here.


End file.
